When air is heated to make a building comfortable in cold weather, air in the building is dried out and has an adverse effect on anyone living or working in such atmosphere. For example, nose and throat membranes dry out, causing irritation and discomfort. Also, excess body moisture evaporation, caused by dry air, requires an even greater temperature level for comfort, thus compounding the problems involved. Inanimate objects, such as furniture and other wooden components of a building, shrink and crack and joints loosen, causing damage to the structure. A dry atmosphere also promotes creation of static electricity, which not only causes petty annoyances due to minor electrical shock episodes, but which may also cause damage to electronic equipment such as computers and the like.
To address these problems, many types of humidifying units have been proposed as stand-alone units or as part of building heating systems.
One example includes placing a container of water near a combustion chamber of a hot air furnace. Water evaporating from the warmed container is circulated through the ductwork of the hot air heating system throughout the building. However, this system creates two problems. First, standing water in the container, which is warmed but not sterilized, tends to promote the growth of bacteria or other pathogens which can make the human building inhabitants ill. Second, the humidity level in the building cannot be effectively controlled.
Some inventions employ the building furnace to boil water and introduce the steam generated into the heated air circulated throughout the building. Although some of these inventions allow for adjusting the overall humidity level within the building, such systems tend to require intricate humidity control circuits which regulate fluid pressure or fluid level within a boiler or heat-exchanging tubes which contain the fluid which is ultimately converted into steam.
Unfortunately, no existing humidifier or furnace system provides a simple mechanism for adjusting the humidity level in a building.